This really is a super dvd which gives an excellent portrayal of what life is like for a working artist. It’s not about sitting around and waiting for inspiration but about consistent effort every day. This is not a tutorial dvd but you will learn a lot by watching it and you can’t fail to be inspired by the work ethic of Ken. if you’ve never heard of him don’t let that put you off, you will soon come to like him, and you’ll learn everything you need to know about the daily life of a working artist. I really enjoyed it. It’s on sale at the Tate for £15.00 but you can buy it here now for £12.50, there’s limited copies so don’t delay on this one. I’ll let the co-producer tell you more about it below.
When my artist friend Neale Worley RP NEAC suggested to me that we make a documentary about his mentor from the Royal Academy Schools, Ken Howard, I asked him who would want to watch it. His reply was, ‘Anyone who wants to understand what being an artist is about.’
Our documentary, ‘The Way I see It’ tracks the life and work of one of Britain’s most successful painters. Ken studied art in the turbulent late 50s and came though that era of experimentation without being tempted to move away from what he wanted to do. He knew early on that he had his language. For him, light was everything. Capture light and you capture the essence of the subject.
We were given amazing access to Ken while he worked in his studios in London, Cornwall and Venice. He talks frankly and engagingly about his life. He was as the first official war artist since the first world war he had to find ways to capture the truth and reality of a soldier’s life in Northern Ireland. He illustrated telephone directories in the 1970s.
He works both in the studio and air en plein. His output is prolific. He only works for an hour and a half on any canvas because after that the light has changed. We learn about his series painting; multiple canvases of the same view, one every hour until the light moves.
Limited Copies Available Buy It Now; Click HERE
He talks us though the incredibly moving ‘Raw War’, which portrayed a dramatically different side to his style when it was hung in last year’s Royal Academy exhibition. See Ken in the studio explaining what moved him to paint it and the technique that created the picture.
This is not a typical art tutorial DVD although it is impossible to listen to a man with Ken’s experience and not learn. We gain understanding of the ‘halo of light’ around a model, how tone generates light and the importance of good draughtsmanship.
Watching the creation of several pictures we discover much about his approach and experience. As a tutor, Ken encouraged the student to see and feel much more than he slaved over brushstrokes or the rule of thirds. From him we learn passion, dedication and perseverance along with the sheer hard graft of being a successful artist.
Perhaps most fundamentally Ken shares the simple fact that you must paint a picture for yourself. Be in love with your subject and that love will transmit from the finished canvas and ultimately find an audience. These are valuable lessons spoken by a grandee of the British art scene; the last of the figurative painters in the Royal Academy. 
Ken states at the end of the film, ‘When I see a Turner or a Velazquez I just want to pick up a brush’. After an hour with Professor Ken Howard OBE RA, you will want to do the same.
Dave Austin,
Co-Producer ‘The Way I See It’.
A fantastic dvd, Buy It HERE now before it’s sold out.
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